Six years ago, the Yankees were heading into the dark of the offseason with a bright light seemingly awaiting them at the other side.
After a stunning but necessary rebuild initiative a year before, the younger, more energetic Yankees took the league by storm in a surprising season that came one win short of a World Series berth. While the sting of a game seven loss was potent, it was soothed by the assumption that these Baby Bombers had just arrived, well ahead of schedule, and would be back to finish the job.
The Yanks are still waiting to get that close to the Fall Classic again, and after an ALCS sweep at the hands of the Astros, any light at the end of that metaphorical tunnel seems dim, at best.
Of course, it shouldn’t. The Yankees just reached the ALCS for the second time in the last four years, had a homegrown superstar break a franchise home run record that stood for 61 years, and have the financial capabilities of addressing any roster need with relative ease.
But when it comes to these Yankees, particularly the regime that runs them, the gap between ability and willingness has never been wider, and as a result, the space between where they stand and where they need to be remains just as gaping.
So, why don’t Yankees fans enter this offseason lacking any semblance of the hope they felt after being eliminated by Houston in 2017? It’s not just because the likes of Luis Severino, Aaron Judge, and the other remaining remnants of the Baby Bombers are only getting older. It’s because of the lack of urgency to capitalize on the team’s championship window that its young core burst open six years ago.
Look no further than that exciting 2017 squad, which was one win away from a pennant before running into Justin Verlander in game six of the ALCS.
Verlander, still a Cy Young favorite six years later, was a prime candidate for the Yanks to acquire at the waiver deadline that summer. The team had the resources in its farm system to acquire him, but ownership balked at the future Hall of Famer’s salary, which would be detrimental in the franchise’s quest to reset its luxury tax penalties. Instead, Verlander went to the Astros, a team that won the title that year, lost two of its cornerstones from that squad in Carlos Correa and George Springer, and is still hanging pennants like the Yankees did in the late 90s.
Meanwhile, other potential big-ticket free agents like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado were passed by with seemingly little interest, and those two stars continue to prove they were worth every penny for their respective clubs, with Harper a postseason star now four wins away from a title.
Fast forward to 2022, and not much has changed. The Yankees ended the 2021 campaign with a flop in the American League Wild Card Game. Aaron Boone declared that the league had closed the gap on the Yanks, while the front office further distanced itself from operating with urgency. Tomorrow became the focal point, as seasons were wasted while the Yanks waited on a year when they were finally fully healthy, or for the next hopeful savior to come along, only once they were 100 percent ready, like Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe (while an Astros rookie shortstop just torched the Bombers en route to an ALCS MVP).
Boone was wrong. There was no gap to be closed on the Yanks, because the Yankees are no longer the model franchise to be emulated. The Yankees hold end-of-season press conferences and dream of another chance where a DJ LeMahieu is at full health, while teams like Houston seamlessly replace franchise cornerstones with homegrown talent and never slow down.
This past offseason, rather than sacrificing no team resources other than money to acquire established star talent at a position of glaring need, like shortstop, the Yanks instead finessed a deal to acquire Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the latter a hopeful breakout candidate that Brian Cashman prides himself on. Sure, sometimes they work out, like a Clay Holmes, Didi Gregorius, or Luke Voit. Other times, like with Kiner-Falefa, it becomes disastrous. Flexing the team’s greatest resource, its wallet, to acquire established talent without the boom-or-bust uncertainty, has taken a backseat to a desire to flex intelligence by finding talent where nobody else can see it. The problem is, there are multiple teams standing in the Yankees’ way that already do a better job at that.
So, will an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Astros, the new gold standard of the league that the Yankees used to pride themselves as, spark an aggressive offseason initiative to change the outlook of a once-proud franchise? Don’t count on it.
The Yanks are a team mired in complacency, from an owner who greenlights an occasional big splash to maintain optics that he is committed to winning a title, to a GM who is fine with the challenge of mining for gold in the bargain bin, to a manager who will sing the praises of the team’s operation with relentless, and sometimes maddening, optimism.
There is not much optimism to be had as the lights go out in the Bronx before the start of the World Series once again. Yes, the team won 99 games, a division, and a playoff series, but for a franchise that preaches championship or bust, the seeming disinterest in surpassing the team that consistently denies that pursuit is deflating. With this current regime, the response is almost scripted. There will be a point of emphasis on untimely injuries, the parity of the postseason, and a confidence that at full strength, this team can win it all.
That approach hasn’t been successful yet. It needs to change. But that would require a change in approach that those in charge don’t believe is necessary. So don’t hold your breath.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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